UVA players explain why they have decided to kneel during national anthem

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Before Tuesday afternoon’s home opener for Virginia basketball, several of the Cavaliers basketball players chose to kneel as the national anthem played.

UVA players have taken a knee during the anthem in the Cavaliers’ first two games on the road, and it has resulted in a firestorm of controversy from their fans. While some fans support what the players are doing, there are others offended by the action.

In past seasons, some Virginia players have simply bowed their heads during the anthem.

“There’s been a lot of conversations,” said senior center Jay Huff, who decided to stand for the anthem. “The main thing that the team understands is that we all support each other. We all support the guys who kneel. Me, personally, I didn’t choose to [kneel]. I wanted to stand, but I feel guys have every right to kneel and the message they want to get across is that we all support protesting against injustice.

“Not just kneeling but going out and doing something about the issues we want to see changed. Obviously, people are going to say what they say, but our shirts say ‘Unity.’ We’re all unified. Today we changed the way we line up because we wanted to show that we support each other.”

Redshirt Kadin Shedrick, who impressed Wahoo fans by scoring 12 points in Tuesday’s win over Saint Francis, was one of the Cavaliers who chose to kneel.

“We had the discussion last Thursday about wanting to kneel for the national anthem or not,” Shedrick said. “There are really strong beliefs about the situation in the country right now, like the police brutality and all that, and the history of the national anthem lyrics itself because there’s more to it than the part we hear. There’s a pretty rough background to it if you go and research it.

“The guys that stand, they’re with us 100 percent and the guys that kneel are behind those who stand 100 percent. We’re all very unified in what we do and we all support each other. Some of us have beliefs that others may not, that want to show respect for the military, and that’s fine with us. We’re with them 100 percent.”